{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But who but a very small number are aware of the cure\r\nwhich was wrought upon Innocentius, ex-advocate of the deputy\r\nprefecture, a cure wrought at Carthage, in my presence, and\r\nunder my own eyes? For when I and my brother Alypius,<a id=\"FNanchor_974_974\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_974_974\">[974]</a> who\r\nwere not yet clergymen,<a id=\"FNanchor_975_975\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_975_975\">[975]</a> though already servants of God, came<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_486\">[Pg 486]</a></span>\r\nfrom abroad, this man received us, and made us live with\r\nhim, for he and all his household were devotedly pious. He\r\nwas being treated by medical men for fistulæ, of which he\r\nhad a large number intricately seated in the rectum. He had\r\nalready undergone an operation, and the surgeons were using\r\nevery means at their command for his relief. In that operation\r\nhe had suffered long-continued and acute pain; yet, among\r\nthe many folds of the gut, one had escaped the operators so\r\nentirely, that, though they ought to have laid it open with the\r\nknife, they never touched it. And thus, though all those that\r\nhad been opened were cured, this one remained as it was, and\r\nfrustrated all their labour. The patient, having his suspicions\r\nawakened by the delay thus occasioned, and fearing greatly a\r\nsecond operation, which another medical man—one of his own\r\ndomestics—had told him he must undergo, though this man\r\nhad not even been allowed to witness the first operation, and\r\nhad been banished from the house, and with difficulty allowed\r\nto come back to his enraged master's presence,—the patient, I\r\nsay, broke out to the surgeons, saying, \"Are you going to cut\r\nme again? Are you, after all, to fulfil the prediction of that\r\nman whom you would not allow even to be present?\" The\r\nsurgeons laughed at the unskilful doctor, and soothed their\r\npatient's fears with fair words and promises. So several days\r\npassed, and yet nothing they tried did him good. Still they\r\npersisted in promising that they would cure that fistula by\r\ndrugs, without the knife. They called in also another old\r\npractitioner of great repute in that department, Ammonius (for\r\nhe was still alive at that time); and he, after examining the\r\npart, promised the same result as themselves from their care\r\nand skill. On this great authority, the patient became confident,\r\nand, as if already well, vented his good spirits in facetious\r\nremarks at the expense of his domestic physician, who had predicted\r\na second operation. To make a long story short, after\r\na number of days had thus uselessly elapsed, the surgeons,\r\nwearied and confused, had at last to confess that he could only\r\nbe cured by the knife. Agitated with excessive fear, he was\r\nterrified, and grew pale with dread; and when he collected\r\nhimself and was able to speak, he ordered them to go away\r\nand never to return. Worn out with weeping, and driven by<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_487\">[Pg 487]</a></span>\r\nnecessity, it occurred to him to call in an Alexandrian, who\r\nwas at that time esteemed a wonderfully skilful operator, that\r\nhe might perform the operation his rage would not suffer them\r\nto do. But when he had come, and examined with a professional\r\neye the traces of their careful work, he acted the\r\npart of a good man, and persuaded his patient to allow those\r\nsame hands the satisfaction of finishing his cure which had\r\nbegun it with a skill that excited his admiration, adding that\r\nthere was no doubt his only hope of a cure was by an operation,\r\nbut that it was thoroughly inconsistent with his nature\r\nto win the credit of the cure by doing the little that remained\r\nto be done, and rob of their reward men whose consummate\r\nskill, care, and diligence he could not but admire when he saw\r\nthe traces of their work. They were therefore again received\r\nto favour; and it was agreed that, in the presence of the\r\nAlexandrian, they should operate on the fistula, which, by the\r\nconsent of all, could now only be cured by the knife. The\r\noperation was deferred till the following day. But when they\r\nhad left, there arose in the house such a wailing, in sympathy\r\nwith the excessive despondency of the master, that it seemed\r\nto us like the mourning at a funeral, and we could scarcely\r\nrepress it. Holy men were in the habit of visiting him daily;\r\nSaturninus of blessed memory, at that time bishop of Uzali,\r\nand the presbyter Gelosus, and the deacons of the church of\r\nCarthage; and among these was the bishop Aurelius, who\r\nalone of them all survives,—a man to be named by us with due\r\nreverence,—and with him I have often spoken of this affair,\r\nas we conversed together about the wonderful works of God,\r\nand I have found that he distinctly remembers what I am\r\nnow relating. When these persons visited him that evening\r\naccording to their custom, he besought them, with pitiable\r\ntears, that they would do him the honour of being present next\r\nday at what he judged his funeral rather than his suffering.\r\nFor such was the terror his former pains had produced, that he\r\nmade no doubt he would die in the hands of the surgeons.\r\nThey comforted him, and exhorted him to put his trust in\r\nGod, and nerve his will like a man. Then we went to prayer;\r\nbut while we, in the usual way, were kneeling and bending\r\nto the ground, he cast himself down, as if some one were<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_488\">[Pg 488]</a></span>\r\nhurling him violently to the earth, and began to pray; but in\r\nwhat a manner, with what earnestness and emotion, with what\r\na flood of tears, with what groans and sobs, that shook his\r\nwhole body, and almost prevented him speaking, who can\r\ndescribe! Whether the others prayed, and had not their\r\nattention wholly diverted by this conduct, I do not know. For\r\nmyself, I could not pray at all. This only I briefly said in my\r\nheart: \"O Lord, what prayers of Thy people dost Thou hear\r\nif Thou hearest not these?\" For it seemed to me that nothing\r\ncould be added to this prayer, unless he expired in praying.\r\nWe rose from our knees, and, receiving the blessing of the\r\nbishop, departed, the patient beseeching his visitors to be present\r\nnext morning, they exhorting him to keep up his heart.\r\nThe dreaded day dawned. The servants of God were present,\r\nas they had promised to be; the surgeons arrived; all\r\nthat the circumstances required was ready; the frightful\r\ninstruments are produced; all look on in wonder and suspense.\r\nWhile those who have most influence with the patient are\r\ncheering his fainting spirit, his limbs are arranged on the\r\ncouch so as to suit the hand of the operator; the knots of the\r\nbandages are untied; the part is bared; the surgeon examines\r\nit, and, with knife in hand, eagerly looks for the sinus that is\r\nto be cut. He searches for it with his eyes; he feels for it\r\nwith his finger; he applies every kind of scrutiny: he finds a\r\nperfectly firm cicatrix! No words of mine can describe the\r\njoy, and praise, and thanksgiving to the merciful and almighty\r\nGod which was poured from the lips of all, with tears of gladness.\r\nLet the scene be imagined rather than described!</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTY-SECOND.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-762"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"2b28e3702dbac64de38e7d3c3be22a9a2eed54d5336601eb6082ac206aff1f3e","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_975_975","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_975_975","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_975_975\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_975_975\"><span class=\"label\">[975]</span></a> Cleros.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_975_975","text_sha256":"7df740ee23161b8b9fdfb7a2934d60f22e9fe5eca45fab08cbc19e11b8dce87b","verified":false,"work_id":null}